


Each Breath She'd Take

by PiedPepper



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 13:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2194050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiedPepper/pseuds/PiedPepper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At night Delphine would lie awake and pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Each Breath She'd Take

Each breath 342B21 took was a miracle. The proof of the triumph of science was right there before her in the numbers that filled the subjects chart. Oxygen levels, lung capacity, breaths per minute. 342B21 was beautiful.

 

***

 

Each breath her subject took triggered a stab of shame and regret. Flushed with desire and satisfaction the woman next to her took deep and contented breaths. What had she done? She had crossed a line and each breath she took pushed Delphine further and further from the objectivity of a scientist and towards a great unknown. She shied away from the rise and fall that gave the science life, fighting away the tears that stung her eyes. She lied, she had never cried after sex before. Her subject was beautiful.

 

***

 

Each breath Cosima took brought her one step closer to the autoimmune disorder that threatened her and the other subjects. There were breaths full of laughter and fun where she would soak in the vitality of Cosima. Breaths caught in passion, whispered against each other’s lips, escaping against the nape of a neck, skimming across the soft planes of their body’s. Breaths wasted in anger and accusation. With every kind of breath, Delphine learned that Cosima, the person, was beautiful.

 

***

 

Each breath her Love took was fought for. At night Delphine would lie awake and pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take. With each rise and fall she’d look for reassurance that they would have one more night together. There could be no wasted breaths. Each one was precious evidence of survival. Her lover, was beautiful.

 

***

 

 Each breath she took was a curse. Without Cosima everything that seemed so important vanished into the air. Now when those memories of wasted breaths would haunt her she’d lie awake and pull her pillow close and imagine each breath her beautiful Cosima never got to take.

 

**Author's Note:**

> A Cophine one-shot inspired by Bruce Springsteen's the River. 
> 
> "At night on them banks I'd lie awake  
> And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take  
> Now those memories come back to haunt me  
> they haunt me like a curse  
> Is a dream a lie if it don't come true  
> Or is it something worse?" 
> 
> When I heard it I could just picture Delphine desperately clutching at Cosima trying to feel each breath she'd take at night. It grew from there. 
> 
> Cheers,  
> PiedPepper


End file.
